Step 2: Safety Gear

You are definitely going to have to wear safety glasses for this project as there are metal bits and solder flying all over the place. I would also suggest wearing hearing protection because when you get ready to cut the ammo box, it may be the loudest thing ever heard by human ears.

Step 3: Remove the Plug From the Power Supply

Grab your power supply and remove the lid to expose the guts of the unit, this should be about 4 screws on the outside of the case depending on your model of power supply.

Next remove the screws that hold the actual plastic plug in place, and carefully pull the plug out and snip the three wires that are attached to it. set the rest of the power supply off to the side. you will not be needing this for any other parts.

Step 4: Mark the Ammo Box for Hole Placement

Next we are going to mark the ammo box for hole placement. This is probably the most time-consuming part of the whole process, take your time here and do this part right, and everything else will fall into place.

These are the holes that will be cut into the box
1. 2 speaker holes
2. Bass tube
3. Toggle switch
4. 4 holes for mounting the speakers
5. Hole for the panel mount audio jack
6. 4 holes for mounting the amp
7. hole for the power plug
8 2 holes for mounting power plug

The dimensions of these boxes vary slightly, so I am going to show you an easy way to do this that will not really require me to give exact dimensions as to where to cut.

I have detailed this part of the process in each following photo, to be as clear as possible.

Step 5: Cutting the Holes: Speakers and Bass Tube

To cut these holes you will need:
A drill bit 3/8" or larger in diameter
jigsaw with metal blade
round metal file
piece of scrap wood

The first thing is to put on your safety glasses so that you do not lose an eye. You need to cut a piece of scrap wood just long enough to fit in between the sides of the box (see photo). This will keep the metal from vibrating violently during the cutting process.

Step 6: Cutting Holes Part 2: Plug, Audio Jack, and Screws

In this step we will be cutting the holes for the electrical plug, audio jack and the screw holes for the speakers as well as the amp.

for this step you will need: Jigsaw with metal blade, drill with various sized bits, and a round file, I also used a deburring tool in this step.

Step 7: Cut Up the Tripod!

The little dollar store tripod will be cut up and used for the standoffs for the speaker covers in this step. This could be substituted by any tubular material of a similar diameter (1/4" ish).

For this step you will need a phillips screwdriver and a pipe cutter.

Step 8: Mount the Speakers

In this step we will be mounting the speakers to the ammo box. Before you set your speakers in place, go ahead and mount the wires to the back. Automotive speakers always come with the speaker wires in the box, and they are typically keyed meaning that the wires can only go on one way, there is a small plug and a large plug with corresponding small and large fittings. So go ahead and attach the wires and then slide the speakers into place with the wires laying inside the box for now.

Step 9: Attach Wires to Plug

In this step we will be wiring up the plug that brings the electricity into the box from the outside. this step is pretty straightforward. Just take your time and use caution with all of the tools involved. and make sure nothing is plugged in while you are working on it.

Step 10: Wire and Install Switch

In this step you will be wiring and mounting the toggle switch to operate the box. You need the same tools as the last step so let's get to it.

Step 11: Wire Up and Install the Audio Jack.

In this step we will be wiring up the audio jack and installing it into the box. this step is very simple and is the last of the soldering required for this project.

Step 12: Plug the Amp In

Ok , all of the hard work is done, it is easy rolling from here on in. In this step you are just going to be plugging the necessary wires into the amp.

Step 13: Install the Grommet for the Bass Tube As Well As the Foam

In this step you will be attaching the grommet that acts as the bass tube, as well as the sound dampening foam, which will help the box not sound like a metal box.

Step 14: Install Feet

I went and bout some self adhesive feet for the bottom of the box not only does it help with vibration but it makes it not mar the surface that it is sitting on.

Step 15: Adjust Your Levels/ Finished

ok so you are done!!!!! at this point you can just go ahead and tinker around with your bass levels and volume to get the desired sound you like. Just as a note the box sounds radically different with the lid open or closed. so when you are making your adjustments be sure to close the lid so that you can hear the full effect. I hope you enjoyed the instructable and feel free to hit me with any comments or questions.

Ok, so you have a seperate external trickle charger. I think thats what I am going with, but did you just disconnect the connections to the switch and connect the charger once the other was disconnected, or how does that work with your setup?

I was inspired by your Instructable to create an ammo can speaker for myself. Like others, I took a lot of cues from the Thodio A-box. I built a 24v 6 cell Li-Ion pack using Panasonic 3400mAh 18650's that feeds into two seperate regulators. One regulated to 18v for the Hifimediy T1 amp and the other down to 5v for the bluetooth receiver board. I charge it using a Universal laptop charger. Run time at 50% volume is about 20 hours on average. Charge time is about 3 hours. Speakers are Pioneer TS-D1002R. The buttons on the front are wired to the bluetooth receiver and to add an original touch. I cut and glued 30-06 bullet casings to the buttons. The port is a 1 1/4" PVC Sink tailpiece that I scuffed using a scotchbrite pad and painted to match the can. The can is lined with 1/4" MDF (attached using liquid nail) that I sealed with a few coats of poly to prevent moisture absorption. Most of the parts were sourced from eBay and I have spent around $150 in parts. I am very happy with the outcome. I am planning to attempt a second can for under $100 using cheaper components(12vSLA battery, Amp+Bluetooth module all in one, and possibly cheaper speakers). I still have a few final touches to add before I am happy with the first. Thanks for looking. Let me know what you all think and if you have any questions.

I have the positive and negative split coming from the battery. One set goes to the charge port and the other goes to a main switch. The adapter is capable of supplying enough current to power the speaker and charge the battery pack simultaneously.

Ive had a need for a loud portable durable speaker for a few years and never could find one to buy that satisfied my needs and wasnt outrageously priced. Did a lot of research into making my own before stumbling across some ammo can speaker projects like this one and decided to make my own.

Used a 50 cal ammo can which I applied a butyl sound deadening material to, some kicker 4" speakers, Lepai t-class amp and a 7ah 12vdc sla battery that is most commonly used in home alarm systems with quick connects for a battery tender for recharging. Audio is connected to a 3.5mm plug with my ipod. I also did some subtle customization to keep the military feel with the blacked out nut washer combo and the graphic i made and trimming the speaker grills in flat white.

The 7ah battery is a little overkill since this amp and speaker combo is very loud and efficient. Future mods in the next few weeks will include:

Thought I would come back a few years later to drop an update on this project.

I ultimately ended up ditching the .50 cal ammo can for a .30 cal can which is almost half the depth and almost half the weight. I also ended up changing to a dta-2 amp and a 3.8ah Li-ion battery pack along with bluetooth 3.0

This setup is about a 40% reduction in size and 60% reduction in weight without a significant decrease in sound quality and battery life is still killer.

The bluetooth range is pretty limited mounted inside the box but as long as its close by all is good.

After tons of tinkering and lots of parts swapping I heavily recommend this setup.

How did you wire the battery into the amp. I have fried two amps now. I have a switch with an LED in it, From the battery the positive goes to the positive the ground to the ground. I cut the cable supplied with the amp and ran it to the switch directly. The all black wire ran to the ground on the switch, the black and white wire runs to the switched power on the switch itself. Am I missing something here.

Ok. I think I figured it out. I had the wires going to the amp backwards. I checked on a laptop 12 volt power supply with my multimeter and found that the inside of the plug was the "hot" side, and the outside was the ground, which is the opposite of the way I had my power unit wired.

Have you come up with a way of doing internal bluetooth? I've been kicking around that idea for months and cant get around the notion that a bluetooth receiver inside a sealed steel box would have a range of about 14 inches, haha.

I have found lots of simple solutions on bluetooth receivers, some even run off of 12v so they could be wired to the battery... but the range problem still eludes me.

Ive contemplated the idea for my next one as well, and the only solution ive come across is taking a bluetooth reciever apart, finding where its internal antenna is and mounting/ attaching a wire or other antenna to it to run to the outside.

My idea was to make a tiny hole directly next to the speaker and have a tiny wire (antenna) go around the outside of the speaker to hide it inbetween the speaker body and the ammo box. That way you have an external antenna for the reviever thats partly hidden, maybe completely hidden by the speaker mounting body.

I have had the same feeling, especially given that mine is lined in sound deadening material. Ultimately I decided that I will be using: http://www.amazon.com/Britelink-Bluetooth-Audio-Receiver-Portable/dp/B0059M4G9K/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1346078657&sr=8-3&keywords=bluetooth+receiver although I have yet to order it. Small, good battery life, rechargeable, great reviews. The only reason I am even attempting this is because I am porting my box and will be mounting the receiver directly above the port. Hoping this will allow adequate signal transmission but who knows. I will definitely post an update once it is all finished and let you know about the range.

mines getting there, still have alot of ideas for it, eventually going to either make another one or work on making a 5.1 surround sound system out of them. I'm giving it a secondary function as a battery for my solar project which i'll be starting soon, this is going to be fully based around camping because i'm an outdoorsy type, Hand braided the cable also and i've made it so if i have to charge the battery i don't have to open it and bug around with it, battery is a 15AH Deep Cycle (which in all honesty only just fits.) If you guys want interior pictures just ask, can't be bothered right now because it's a little bit of a hassle because of lighting and such

things i'd change if i went back in time: 4in speakers instead of 5.25 (THERE IS LITTERALLY NO SPACE FOR ANYTHING, I want to put a bass port but no god damned space)

12AH battery instead of 15AH (comes down to space again, thing is huge!)

smaller amp (mind you the one i have now has built in bluetooth so it's not that big of an issue, got a small problem with heat so i'm retracking it and switching out some onboard components)

other than that it's been a fun build and has come out looking pretty boss in my opinion, Any questions/critiques or suggestions just send me a message :)

Hi, I was wondering about that AMP you used in youre project. How did you connect the power supply and the battery to the board? Is there multiple power in connections on it? From what I can see, its just those 4 that are connected dirrectly to the battery.

3.5kHz 2nd order crossover. I had to custom build this to accomodate the impedance mismatch of the speakers - off the shelf ebay ones don't specify what impedance values they are for, so won't work correctly with drivers of the opposite impedance

Stainless steel mesh

3 x18650 protected lithium battery cells NOT off from ebay (there are plenty of bogus ones there - these are not to be messed with)

3 cell 18650 battery holder, sourced from ebay

15V laptop power supply

Battery charge control module sourced from ebay

Dacron acoustic stuffing

Power switch and 2.5mm DC power socket

The sound is awesome, especially for something so small. Battery life was about 20 hours at a reasonably low volume. I plan to make a 6 cell battery pack for it in the future.

Made one of these but in a big wooden ammo box to take to download festival last year. I didnt want to take any chances so it runs on 2 x 7ah sla batteries. I added a key switch and a 3 - way toggle switch to select mains or battery power. I also added 2 drink holders in the lid which are for a boat and a usb/ cigarette lighter.

With taking it to a festival i needed the extra battery power as theres no means of charging and its safe to say it lasted the full 5 dats and still had more to give. I added the key switch as a screw you if anyone stole it because without the key its not going to work plus the fact i threaded catinery wire round my tent and padlocked it all up. So while its took a bit of a battering its ideal for a festival or holiday.

I am by no means an electrical engineer (so this may seem like a silly question), but how would you wire the Bluetooth switch, AUX switch, USB and USB switch, Voltage meter and switch, etc.? Would you use more wire to split them off?

Hey guys, given how much all of our friends loved these ammo can speakers, we've launched a small manufacturing company called AmmoAudio.com to build these at scale and perfect the sound. We were just reviewed in Military.com (here:

[Disclaimer: I'm the guy who builds these] I can avow for the AmmoCan X version. Not as much fun as building your own, but they're very efficient. They'll run 24hrs on a charge, have very little distortion and a good amount of bass considering the size of the enclosure. Bluetooth up to 15m and you can charge your phone while you're listening.

Great instructable. I've been gathering parts to build a few of these, but in testing all the pieces I noticed that the amp is getting really hot. After about 15 minutes the amp case was over 140 degrees and climbing. Anyone else have this problem? I thought it might be because my speakers are 4ohm and the amp is rated 8-20ohm, but it looks like the original instructable has the same setup. Any suggestions? Considering using the cooling fan from the PC p/s but I'm wondering if it would make too much noise. Or just get a 4ohm amp?

Has anybody made an ammo box speaker like this that runs on battery, but can also be plugged in to run off a laptop power supply? I am trying to come up with a schematic to do it using a DC Power Jack w/switching, but am having trouble finding out how to properly wire it all together (power jack input is tip positive, shell negative).

i dont have one drawn up but could if you wanted. basically its just how you would hook up a car stereo (schematics always come with them) put instead of having the power from a car, the batteries and switch are in their place.

I'd like to use a hybrid of the original design (use the computer plug) mixed with the battery inside. Basically, I'd like to be able to plug the charger into the computer plug adapter and charge the battery, then be able to unplug and go without having to connect or disconnect the battery inside. I'm ***REALLY*** new at this, so any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

they are on the Power supplies that they ripped apart. old school power supplies have that goofy grill. Go to any computer repair shop and ask for old power supplies that don't work and see if those griles are on them.

this is awesome!, im doing this for my electronics project, however in order to do that, i have to build my own amplifier bit, anyone know where i can find a schematic for the one he uses? so i can copy it and therefore pass my project